(OT) Willow's Corollary to Poe's Law

Eugene Willow

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Nov 14, 2012, 7:18:28 AM11/14/12

to

Well, the joke is over, for Microsoft must have detected something fishy and disabled my hotmail account.
So, instead of yet another insane "theory", let me present with my corollary to Poe's Law:

The more obvious your parody is, the more likely it is to be mistaken for the real thing.

So, let me anticipate questions from you:

> Are you an Alan Sokal wannabe?
Yes.

> Is "Eugene Willow" your real name?
No. It was (partly) inspired by the song "Willow Farm" by Genesis.

> Are you really an atheist?
No. I am a practising Roman Catholic.
I am also a weak agnostic and find most forms of atheism to be begging the question.

> Are you really a creationist?
No. I find creationism both stupid (for obvious reasons) and a blasphemy,
since it presents a God who must have escaped to dirty hacks to create life on Earth.

> Are you really a time traveller from the future?
No.

> Are you really a bird?
Of course not.

> Are birds really going to wipe out humanity and take over the earth?
I don't think so.

> Are you really from Poland?
Yes.

> Was CP a hoax?
Yes.

> What was the purpose of this?
It was a study on Poe's Law.

> Are you going to publish the results?
Maybe.

> Will you still read t.o.?
Yes.

> Will you still post to t.o.?
Not under this ridiculous name.

> Is your email address still working?
No. If you have any more questions, the new one is eugene...@msn.com

> If evolution is true, how did angels' wings evolve?
(deadpan voice)
Well, there still isn't any scientific consensus of this,
but most recent findings indicate that they probably
evolved from winged lizards like the Coelurosauravus.

Ernest Major

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Nov 14, 2012, 7:43:24 AM11/14/12

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In message <k8026d$9u3$1...@speranza.aioe.org>, Eugene Willow
<willo...@hotmail.com> writes

>
>Well, the joke is over, for Microsoft must have detected something
>fishy and disabled my hotmail account.

The joke was over long ago.

>So, instead of yet another insane "theory", let me present with my
>corollary to Poe's Law:

--
alias Ernest Major

Ron O

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Nov 14, 2012, 8:03:08 AM11/14/12

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On Nov 14, 6:22 am, Eugene Willow <willowe1...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Well, the joke is over, for Microsoft must have detected something fishy and disabled my hotmail account.
> So, instead of yet another insane "theory", let me present with my corollary to Poe's Law:
>
> The more obvious your parody is, the more likely it is to be mistaken for the real thing.
>
> So, let me anticipate questions from you:
>
> > Are you an Alan Sokal wannabe?
>
> Yes.
>
> > Is "Eugene Willow" your real name?
>
> No. It was (partly) inspired by the song "Willow Farm" by Genesis.
>
> > Are you really an atheist?
>
> No. I am a practising Roman Catholic.
> I am also a weak agnostic and find most forms of atheism to be begging the question.

Are you just making fun of Peter Nyikos?

Can a troll be trusted to come clean and tell the truth?

>
> > Are you really a creationist?
>
> No. I find creationism both stupid (for obvious reasons) and a blasphemy,
> since it presents a God who must have escaped to dirty hacks to create life on Earth.
>
> > Are you really a time traveller from the future?
>
> No.
>
> > Are you really a bird?
>
> Of course not.
>
> > Are birds really going to wipe out humanity and take over the earth?
>
> I don't think so.
>
> > Are you really from Poland?
>
> Yes.
>
> > Was CP a hoax?
>
> Yes.
>
> > What was the purpose of this?
>
> It was a study on Poe's Law.
>
> > Are you going to publish the results?
>
> Maybe.
>
> > Will you still read t.o.?
>
> Yes.
>
> > Will you still post to t.o.?
>
> Not under this ridiculous name.
>
> > Is your email address still working?
>

> No. If you have any more questions, the new one is eugene.wil...@msn.com

>
> > If evolution is true, how did angels' wings evolve?
>
> (deadpan voice)
> Well, there still isn't any scientific consensus of this,
> but most recent findings indicate that they probably
> evolved from winged lizards like the Coelurosauravus.

Didn't Willow indicate that he was polish, or was it just polish
sympathies? I recall that Nyikos claimed to be Eastern European, but
not polish (Hungarian?). Does this all mean that you are Peter
Nyikos? Could there be two like Nyikos now posting to TO that could
also be responsible for the Willow posts? What are the chances of
that? Probably less than 1%....

Ron Okimoto

Mike Dworetsky

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Nov 14, 2012, 8:05:58 AM11/14/12

to

Eugene Willow wrote:
> Well, the joke is over, for Microsoft must have detected something
> fishy and disabled my hotmail account. So, instead of yet another
> insane "theory", let me present with my corollary to Poe's Law:
>
>
> The more obvious your parody is, the more likely it is to be mistaken
> for the real thing.

Several people replied who thought you were trying to do a Sokal (a parody),
though it was amateurish and clumsy compared to Alan Sokal's clever
original. So they did not fall for it. We concluded that you were either
kidding or nuts and decided to string you along for a while. I had actually
thought of commenting that this could be an example of Poe's Law but left it
as wondering if you were trying to do a Sokal.

The fact is that there really are people posting here (now or in the past)
who come across as being as stupid and weird as "Willow": for example, Tony
Pagano and his heliocentrism. Hence there is always some doubt as to
whether we are dealing with someone who is batshit insane or merely poking
the newsgroup for fun or profit.

However, I believe your corollary is wrong. If it is really obvious, many
people here will question the poster's sincerity and sanity from the start.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply)

raven1

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Nov 14, 2012, 8:23:55 AM11/14/12

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On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:18:28 +0000 (UTC), Eugene Willow
<willo...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>> Is "Eugene Willow" your real name?
>No. It was (partly) inspired by the song "Willow Farm" by Genesis.

Well, at least you have excellent taste in music!

J.J. O'Shea

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Nov 14, 2012, 9:28:05 AM11/14/12

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On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:03:08 -0500, Ron O wrote
(in article
<12d26f70-15e7-4d1f...@a14g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>):

>>> Are you really an atheist?
>>
>> No. I am a practising Roman Catholic.
>> I am also a weak agnostic and find most forms of atheism to be begging the
>> question.
>
> Are you just making fun of Peter Nyikos?

No comment.

--
email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

John Harshman

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Nov 14, 2012, 11:47:11 AM11/14/12

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On 11/14/12 4:18 AM, Eugene Willow wrote:
>
> Well, the joke is over

Thank you for stopping, if for nothing else. And yes, for nothing else.

Bob Casanova

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Nov 14, 2012, 1:27:12 PM11/14/12

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On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:18:28 +0000 (UTC), the following
appeared in talk.origins, posted by Eugene Willow
<willo...@hotmail.com>:

>
>Well, the joke is over, for Microsoft must have detected something fishy and disabled my hotmail account.
>So, instead of yet another insane "theory", let me present with my corollary to Poe's Law:
>
>
>The more obvious your parody is, the more likely it is to be mistaken for the real thing.

Well, unless you're the author of this article...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

....you're a bit late.

--

Bob C.

"Evidence confirming an observation is
evidence that the observation is wrong."

- McNameless

Mitchell Coffey

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Nov 15, 2012, 12:07:08 AM11/15/12

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You can't imagine what a surprise these revelations are to all of us.

Mitchell Reagan Coffey